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Hockey Life (or something like it) – Essay for the Brendan Burke Internship

1 response, May 25, 2010

It seems strange, that I haven’t posted here in Months, caught up in the flurry of returning from the States, tumbling back into School and Hockey.  It seems in stark contrast that my last post was in memorial of the amazingness that was Brendan Burke and here is my application essay to the internship in his honour. I do not think I will get it, in large part due to the fact I am both outside the realm of what they’re looking for I’d imagine, and that I am still 6 months shy of graduation. Trying never hurt though,

Hockey Life (or something like it)..

Sasky Stewart

It’s an unusual thing, to find a girl so in love with hockey, so passionate and dedicated to the most untypical of her nation’s sport down here in the most unlikely of hockey countries. Or so I’m told. I’ve never really felt it was unusual because to me, hockey is an extension of my being, who I am and what I do.

Hockey is not a sport I fell in love with and have dedicated so much of my life so far too because it was what was expected of me or because it is what everyone else did. Hockey is a sport I fell in love with because from the moment I first saw it, first stepped foot in a rink and heard the noise of skates, I had no other choice. I do not come from a hockey family or a town that even had an ice rink. I did not spend nights watching the Redwings only to get up before dawn, dragged out of bed by parents for practice. This makes no difference as over the past years hockey has become so much a part of me that it has shaped the person I am today.

To the sport of hockey I owe a lot. It has made me strong and determined. It has taught me the value of hard work and that nothing is a bar to by success, not my size, my gender or my nationality, if I am willing to dedicate myself to the pursuit of my goals. It has taught me to find the strength needed to pull myself up every time I fall, how to be a team mate and at the same time how to lead those around me.

I could list my achievements in the hockey world, what I have done but a resume does not capture who I am as a person or how I got to where I am today. Since I first fell in love with the sport, I have dedicated myself to it, through play (as a member of the National Women’s League) and through work. When the opportunity arose I jumped at the chance to join the Board of the AIHL, not only to gain further experience in the management of the sport I love but as it presented a chance to walk the talk and make a meaningful contribution to the sport that means so much. I’ve worn many hats in the name of hockey from events co-ordinator to marketing and communications director, development leader to social media guru and even branching out to goalie coach, boards repair and first aid officer (my ability to repair facial wounds is actually getting quite good) and I have taken each of these on board with the same dedication and passion that I live my entire life with.

I’ve never been a small thinker, at 5 wanting to be prime minister and at 15 a judge. For the last while however, I’ve had my sights set on being the first female Commissioner of the NHL. These aren’t small goals and despite being small I’ve never aimed for anything less than the biggest dreams I could think of. That’s why when I wanted to learn more about developing and running hockey I set my sights on an NHL internship. After devising a promotional method and package and approached every single team until Ted Leonsis of the Capitals brought me on board. Less than a year later and with summer break once again approaching and faced with the not to appealing prospect of 3 months sitting around, I turned to the WHL this time for an internship which would help me learn and grow as a hockey professional.

I admit, I am unsure of my eligibility for this internship due to my location outside the USA. What I have learnt however, is that much akin to the Gretzky attitude on shot taking, 100% of the chances you don’t take you don’t get. This is a chance I will always take.

In Remembrance of What Was and What Will Continue

2 responses, Feb 06, 2010

Stereotypically men deal with things by ignoring about it and women deal with things by talking about it. In this day and age, it seems like both genders deal by tweeting about it. That’s how I learnt today in a tweet by @JayOnrait that Brian Burke’s son Brendan had passed. It is always sad when anyone, let alone a child passes. However, when it is someone within the hockey community the pain extends through so many other people, belying the closeness that is so valued in hockey.

I grew up in a small country town who’s main interests were drinking, cows and football. My dad put in swimming pools for a living and my mother raised us and cut hair. I was lucky however, to have two of the most accepting parents you could imagine. My father once drove a bus for a drag tour and also (in his 20’s) routinely dressed up as a Japanese Geisha for reasons unknown. My mother was a hairdresser. They never judged, accepted everyone and taught me much the same.

Brendan Burke came out to his team mates, many of whom probably didn’t come from families like mine, but grew up in towns like the one I did, small, country and undeniably close minded. He had listened to years and years of chirping centered around insults to ones sexuality, the perceived ultimate in insults if  locker room trash talk was any indication. It had lead to him quitting playing in his final years of high school, unable to bear the talk, the degradation of his self. Still he came out, running the risk of loosing the trust and friendship of the hockey brotherhood he had found as a student manager at Miami-Ohio.

Not only did he come out to his hockey team, he came out to a father that is widely regarded as a prototype of masculinity in an already masculine sport. He takes a risk, at loosing a family that so many of us could never consider making. He takes a risk at rejection and shame that would send so many of us cowering and preferring to hide ourselves rather than run those risks. Instead, he finds acceptance grounded in the common sense belief that someones worth goes far beyond their sexual orientation, that persons value cannot be measured by who they love but by how they live.

The media jumps on this story, of the famous father’s acceptance of his son, the overwhelming acceptance of the hockey community to something still so taboo and suddenly Brendan Burke is everywhere, and everyone? Everyone is okay.

When Brendan Burke came out everyone heard about it. Thousands of hockey players across the country, across the world suddenly had a little bit of light they may not have had before. If Brian Burke can be okay with it, if a college hockey team can, maybe my coach, my team mates, friends and family can too.

Brendan Burke wanted to end the pattern of homophobia that was endemic to hockey and other sports. He wanted it to be okay for anyone to be who they were and to not feel shame for that, to be free to live how they wished without fear of loosing the sport and friends that meant so much. It is a goal, a dream many of us share, and in his memory, many of us will continue to carry on.

Your courage in stepping forward so publicly will serve as inspiration to many and the message you came forward with of acceptance will be remembered and carried forward. You were one of the firsts, but you will not be the last.

Rest in Peace, Brendan.

Eagle has landed

No response, Jan 08, 2010

Well I’ve been here in Everett for a week and a bit now and its already been a hell of a time. I spent most of the first few days in various states of unconsciousness on couches and beds as I tried to get over the most wicked jet lag I’ve ever experienced (I’d never had a problem with it flying to the States before) and adjusting to the cold.

In the first week I’ve been here, the team’s gone 4 from 5 games (I like to think I’m lucky because they’d won 3 from the last 12 before that), made some minor rights trades and a released a player. Sadly, the player released was a very good friend of mine, Dale Hunt. Unfortunately this meant the most time we spent hanging out involved packing his life into a suitcase so he could head back to Manitoba. However, with the team also releasing his rights (a classy move) he’s able to carry on his hockey career  whether in the W or another league where the opportunity presents itself. He’s received a lot of interest from MJHL teams back towards home and with one more year left on his eligibility he’s looking forward to atleast another good year of hockey ahead of him.

It was rough though, to see first hand the necessary business side of hockey when it is someone you care about and know well, and particular when it is kids, teenagers who are being shipped around the country between what they know. However, as any of them will tell you, its what they agree to in order to play the game. I know if I had the option, I’d agree to the exact same thing And that’d just to be able to work for the team!

A lot of my time so far has been spent observing and I’m learning a lot about ticket sales and promotions, different marketing and merchandising initiatives and coming up with some great ideas and plans to implement when I get back home. So far I’ve already emailed my team back home with Sponsorship Proposals and merchandising plans, and I’m working on something regarding season tickets at the moment. They’re going to get sick of me soon enough!!

Anyway, the team’s off the ice from practice, JR’s got some adjectives for me to look up for the broadcasts, and I’m off to Seattle this afternoon for the night’s game. So it’s time for me to scoot. Blog to you all soon.

Sasky

Hockey Home-ward Bound

No response, Dec 28, 2009

My plane leaves in a handful of hours and I’ll be heading North towards Everett on my next big adventure. Keep your eyes peeled to this space to read, not only more about hockey, but the adventures I have whilst on my travels.

See you on the other hemisphere side.

Sasky

The Love Affair with World Juniors

1 response, Dec 26, 2009

“Christmas” (noun) – a day of the year that falls one day before the World Junior Hockey Championship officially starts.

I fell in love with World Juniors during the lock out. I’d only been around hockey for a few years at that point and with internet game streaming practically non-existent at this point (I really only found most of it last season) I listened to a lot of OHL hockey on the internet radio. Then world juniors came along, Patrice Bergeron was playing (I had a bit of a 16 year old school girl crush on the young frenchie) and I was hooked. Ever since then, every year World Juniors has become part of my hockey life.

Here’s a look at a few of my favourite moments of the World Juniors in the last few years.

The First Year

The first year I discovered WJC was that of the lockout. That year, the team that took the ice was as close to a dream team as one could imagine. Of a team of 22, 16 are currently in the NHL, and the majority of those are dominant players. The team had two current NHL captains, numerous NHL assistant captains, team scoring leaders, league scoring leaders, all-stars, trophy nominees and winners and that’s just the Canadian side of the equation. Throw in the pairing of Ovechkin and Malkin and you’ve got a match up a lot of hockey fans would give their eye teeth to see again.

The 2005 Gold Medal Game

Whilst knowing the score and having celebrated like a wild fan (I had worked so someone had brought the score into work for me), it was a month and a half after the tournament ended and the “non-alcoholic champagne” was popped that I finally saw that game. To this date I’ve seen the game upwards of 60 times with the tape itself having actually started to loose its colour. My favourite moment of the game, forever immortalised by the screamings of Pierre McGuire was what is now known as the “Double Dion”, the moment Phanuef clears out two russians to set the line of Crosby-Perry-Bergeron off on an almost clear 3 – 0. The goal, the whole play itself is still one of my favourite moments in hockey. In fact, I’m pretty sure I can do the entire call from memory.

Stefan Legein

I have a little love affair with Stefan Legein. He’s funny as hell, cute and incredibly endearing with his chirpy, chippy and hard nosed style of play. Hell, I even have an entire blog post to him and his youtube highlights (here). It was the World Juniors that many of us not entirely obsessed with Jr Hockey first got to meet Mr Legein, and really it was probably the first time many got to see his endearing personality shine as the camera’s of a nation (or atleast TSN’s) fell on him. And I mean, anyway, who doesn’t love watching a ecstatic, shaving cream covered hockey boy half pounce a TV personality?  I’m pretty sure TSN, or James Cybulski atleast has a crush on the kid.

The Battle between PK Subban and Jonathan Tavares

PK Subban was badass. PK Subban was a brash, trash talking little d-man with a hell of a lot of swagger and a style of play that reflected all of this (even if Pat Quinn wasn’t a fan of the “Subbi-do” Spinorama). Best of all PK Subban was everything that the shy, seemingly personality-less Jonathan Tavares wasn’t. Until you put them in the same room. You put PK and JT in the same interview and you ended up with some hilarious stuff from the boys. Who loves Mariah Carey? Those boys do (”She’s decent. You can’t be dissing Mariah like that”.) Such gems also include “PK. You’re the toughest guy I know with your gloves on.” and a snipping match in a group interview as Thomas Hickey and Zach Boychuk stare confusedly at the pair. The two interviews are here and here

Going to Ottawa

In my travels last year, I was fortunate enough to end up in Ottawa for Christmas / New Years and got to experience the World Juniors first hand. It may have only been Canada v Germany and a bit of a one sided game but to me it was heaven. I turned up with my sign, my Team Canada hoodie and glitter flag cheek decals and for that night, I was truly as close to being Canadian as you can get without that whole pesky citizenship thing. I helped pass the flag, got to cheer and holler and even occasionally yelled random abuse when I felt the need arose.

2009 Canada / USA – New Years Eve Game

Despite the intense love I have for the 2005 Gold Medal Game, the 2009 Canada / USA match is quite possibly my favourite WJC game. It had everything. It had the underdog attacking and the favourite making a come back. It had passion, drama and a lot of fire and bad blood between the teams. It had jr team mates, room mates pitted against each other, both fighting for supremacy and the free pass through to the semi-finals.  So many times since then, I have gone back and watched that game. I even tried to tonight, only to discover that HockeyStreams.com, my savior for hockey archives has finally taken down some of its old streams. Heartbreak.

It’s Boxing Day here, which means that very shortly it’ll be Boxing Day in Canada and once again the fun will begin. Which member of the team will I end up crushing on this year after some amazing play, hilarious interview or endearing moment?

I can’t wait to find out!

See you at 6am Australian time, Team Canada. In the mix for six!

P.S. Team Finland. I no longer shall be supporting you as you cut my friend and Silvertip, Rasmus Rissanen (formally known as Finland to me). I do not like this.

Heartbreak Hockey

No response, Dec 20, 2009

It’s been a while since I posted, I’ve been caught up with getting ready to go overseas, organising christmas and still working and so forth. One of the things that has been keeping me busy is launching and designing products for my new venture Heartbreak Hockey.

I came up with the idea for HbH when I was getting frustrated with the large amount of slutty and sparkly that appeared in Women’s hockey clothes.

So if you’re looking for something for the hardcore Hockey Girl in your life, give our site a look and I”m sure you’ll find something she’ll love!

Heartbreak Hockey

It’s Happening!

No response, Dec 01, 2009

It’s really happening. Once again I’m off to the wide world of North America to work with a hockey time. This time it’s the Everett Silvertips of the WHL, my first choice and absolute dream team to be heading to! Doug Soetaert (who’s name gives me so much trouble with spelling) the teams General Manager has been so incredibly generous with his allowing of me to come and work with his team for two and a half months. For this I am incredibly excited, and will be eternally grateful. Everett truly is a model franchise, and the success they’ve had in a mere 6 and a bit seasons producing the likes of Peter Mueller, Zach Hamill and Taylor Ellington and consistently figuring in the WHL playoff race has been incredibly. I can’t wait to get there and learn all I can.


Myspace Countdown Clock

It’s not so much me… It’s Roenick

No response, Nov 16, 2009

My first ever NHL game was San Jose v Toronto at the Shark Tank. It was Ron Wilson’s return to San Jose and  a match up between the first  NHL team I’d fallen in love with and the team I loved the most now. After watching for so many years, I finally got to walk into an NHL arena and comprehend the amazing-ness (for lack of a better term) of live hockey.

To celebrate the occasion, my geekiness and excitement about the game I’d made a sign on the Cal-Train out from San Francisco with my friend. A knock off of the ever so popular mastercard commercial it read:

Plane Tickets from Australia $3,000.

Two Tickets to the Sharks Game: $100.

Saying I saw JR Play : Priceless.

Pre-game saw me standing against the glass with my friends, in awe as I was finally seeing all these players I’d watched for years on my tiny computer screen in front of me. Whilst I was busy staring off in awe, someone skated over and elbowed JR, pointing in my direction. My friend who had been watching, pointed it out as he came barrelling past the first time, grinned spun around a second time and stopped, tapped the sign through the glass and winked. I then let out the most un-dignified squeel in existence.

Two days later, I found myself in the Sharks locker room, a guest of Randy Hahn, the Sharks Commentator as he introduced me around. Roenick was barreling around the room, heading out the door when Randy called him over. “You had the sign”. I just about fell over and instead nodded mutely and possibly blushed.

For the next few minutes, I chatted to Roenick about hockey, how the sport was developing in Australia and how I had found such a love for the sport and ended up in the Sharks Locker room. He talked about always wanting to come down, about maybe doing something to help the sport here and in that moment I became an even bigger fan for the man that was already a legend for both his play and personality. Later in the day, I passed him again in a hallway and was greated, despite being in the middle of preparing for a game, with a hair tousel, a wink and a “G’Day Australia”.

During that nights pre-game skate, I stood behind several small children, and when JR skidded to a stop and waved to me through the glass the kids nearly fell over with suprise. I nodded back, pointing at the kids and within moments several pucks came flipping over into their hands. I wasn’t sure whose grin was bigger at that time, mine with appreciation for a hockey player’s understanding of what small things can mean, or the kids for getting their hands on a puck directly from one of the games greats.  T

Since then, I’ve exchanged an email or two with the man himself and definatley some day I hope to get him down here. I’m going up for the Board of Directors of the Australian Ice Hockey League shortly, and organising hopefully an international friendly, or atleast a tournment to open our rink and getting the greeat man down here would be something I’d love to do.

But until that time, and for a long time I”m sure, I will remember JR as one of the classiest and nicest hockey players I’ve ever met.

(I also have an exam on Private International Law in 3 hours so better STUDY)

Escaping Again : A New Internship Quest

No response, Oct 27, 2009

Last summer, I packed my backpack and fled the Australian summer for the North American winter. I saw snow, had a white christmas, got my first excruciating hang over and most of all, completely immersed myself in hockey.

I talked General Managing, Team Development and Public Relations with Doug Soetaert and Jon Rosen in Everett, learnt about the in workings of the broadcast media from Drew Remenda, Randy Hahn and the CSN crew in San Jose. In Chicago I talked about fan development with the Hawk’s Annie Camins and Boston saw Don Sweeney take an hour of his day to discuss player development systems. The ultimate though? The 6 weeks I spent observing and being part of the day to day life of the Washington Capitals.

A year later, I’d say I’m getting itchy feet again. I’m never one for sitting still, and whilst I have plenty to do in the upcoming university break, 3 1/2 months off seems like the perfect time to learn and in turn, use this knowledge to the benefit of the AIHL  and hockey in Australia (as well as adding to my resume for future hockey employment!).

So once again, I’ve started writing letters, planning and sending packages out to people and organization I’d love to learn from — ranging from the NHLPA, Goal’s and Dream’s Programs, the League itself to player agency’s and Jr Hockey teams.

Let’s see how I go this time? Maybe I need some medicating. Or a really good hobby.

The Uproar re: Georges Laraque

No response, Oct 18, 2009
Everyone has a take, this is mine

It’s been all over the news lately. You can’t miss it. We’re talking about Georges Laraque and the whole Octane 7.0 drama.

Whilst I fail completely as a feminist and don’t have an issue with the scantily clad women in the advert, ones whom compared to recent Dallas Stars Ice Girls videos, are almost conservatively dressed, the main drama has arisen out of a breach of Article 25.1 of the CBA.

As everyone’s now had pointed out to them (and I had pink sharpied in my copy of the CBA) not only do you need to let your  team know what you’re up to in regards to endorsements and sponsorship, but you, in accordance with 25.1 you also can’t as part of endorsement or sponsorship be assocaited with an alcoholic beverage, the exception to this being malt based beverages such as beer.

On HNIC tonight, Kelly Hrudey suggested that by not allowing players to endorse an alcoholic beverage the NHL is essentially promoting a double standard. This double standard, in his opinion, is evidence by the fact  we see arena’s plastered with beer advertising and that a beer company, Molson, even owns an NHL franchise. With all due respect Mr Hrudey as someone with far more knowledge and a far better job than myself, beer advertising is treated differently to alcohol advertising in respect of  allowences by the CBA and if the product had been a malt-based beverage as allowed by the CBA, this situation would not have arisen.

Though Laraque may not have read his contract beyond the figures of how much he was making, you would expect that every NHL agent should and would have an indepth knowledge of the CBA and how its articles and clauses affect their clients. In this instance, the issue is raised : Why did Laraque’s agent not pick up on the problem arising from such an endorsement? I, as a 20 year old Australian fan (albiet one with 3/4’s of a law degree and a rather working knowledge of the CBA), am aware of such a clause.

The main issue however, that this whole debacle brings back to the spotlight is that of the place of alcohol sponsorship in sport. Whilst the NHL already effectively limits sponsorships to that of beer companies, with beer itself being portrayed as essentially an integral and timeless part of the hockey experience (it even got its on page in A Canadian Saturday Night by Andrew Podnieks), should alcohol sponsorship in anyway be allowed, especially due to the prevalance of alcohol related violence?

I know here in Australia the issue was raised recently, and when numbers were released, it was clearly evident that without alcohol sponsorship, nearly ever single Australian sport would suffer substantially to the point where the growth and development of sports in the country would inevitably start to regress. Whilst Australian sport is much more dependent in the absence of tv rights and with smaller markets and population, it is hard to believe the effect would not be substantial. A prime example of this is the recent Molson Giver 5 Commercials. It would not be hard to speculate that the cumulative donation total from such a campaign would be enough to fund the Olympic campaigns for several  smaller winter sports.

In my opinion, junior hockey is where the real issue lies. In a league where, atleast in America, none of the athletes, and in Canada, a large portion of the athletes, are below legal drinking ages alcohol sponsorship is rampant. Whilst there is the possibility that no  financial alternative is available, particularly in the current economic climate, questions have to be raised about the wiseness of such advertising choices, particlury with the high number of minds open to this negative influence both on the ice and in the stands.

Possibly the most disturbing, and if a fault of the economic climate (due to a lack of alternative options) , saddening examples of this lies in a WHL arena, where no less than 16 ads for alcoholic beverages are present. These ads look down upon on a team of young impressionable boys who last season lost one of their own, a teammate, to alcohol poisoning just two days after his 19th birthday.

Where do we draw the line here between the business reality that without sponsorship and the money it brings that enables JR and other leagues to run and the morality argument that the promotion of alcohol through sports advertising contributes  to curren social problems caused by underage and exessive drinking as well as alcohol fueled violence?

With recent moves in the NCAA to drastically cut back or remove alcohol advertising from venues and sports broadcasts what’s stopping hockey?

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